Swupnil Sahai is majoring in economics, applied mathematics and statistics - while minoring in Chinese studies. He says playing tennis helps him relax and focus, especially when studying for midterms and finals.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Swupnil Sahai is majoring in economics, applied mathematics and...

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Sergiy Nesterenko, left, has a desk that is full of wires and other electronic components for a class project. He's majoring in math, physics and chemistry, but he says he likes to raise and answer questions about everything.

Photo: Rashad Sisemore, The Chronicle

Sergiy Nesterenko, left, has a desk that is full of wires and other...

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Sergiy Nesterenko is one of a small number of students at UC Berkeley who is a triple major, majoring in math, physics and chemistry.

Photo: Rashad Sisemore, The Chronicle

Sergiy Nesterenko is one of a small number of students at UC...

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UC Berkeley student Joanna Jao studies at the Free Speech Cafe at the Moffitt Library on the Berkeley, Calif. campus on Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012. Jao is a triple major in economics, media studies and psychology.

"To save up for law school and save on a year of my very expensive international tuition, I'll actually be graduating in three years," said the Canadian, who majors in economics, business administration and rhetoric. She's also minoring in public policy while earning a certificate in engineering leadership and working as the Daily Californian's financial analyst.

Students typically take about 15 course units a semester to reach the 120 needed to graduate. Chen takes more than 20 and will graduate next spring with 240 units.

"I don't think my course load is heavy at all," Chen said.

But then Chen is one of those 20-year-olds who, when casting about for something to do between graduation and applying to law school, accepted an investment banking job with Goldman Sachs.

Chen says she would rather inspire than intimidate, and shared her key to success:

"I do my best to plan ahead," she said. "If I have (school) projects, I try to get things done as soon as I get it. For me, I guess, I just don't like having a thing on my mind."

It's a common characteristic of triple majors, said Catherine Koshland, Berkeley's vice provost for teaching, learning, academic planning and facilities.

"They're highly organized and busy," Koshland said. "Some may be extraordinarily gifted intellectually, but others may be the same as the next Berkeley student - just focused and driven by questions."

Just curious

Majoring in a subject rather than taking just a class or two requires delving deeply into an area of study and suggests a keen interest in it. Over and over, triple majors said they hadn't meant to major in three subjects but found themselves fascinated.

"The main reason that I decided to do a triple major in math, physics and chemistry can be summarized with one word: curiosity," said Sergiy Nesterenko, 22, who likes to know pretty much everything.

"How a motorcycle works. How shampoo works - why is it better than just washing your hair with water? Why people will melt metals and cool them very quickly to make a stronger metal. You can make up any question, and I will be interested in it," said Nesterenko, who was born in Ukraine and moved to Southern California at age 10 with his family.

He acknowledges that a certain level of intellect is needed to understand the answers to many questions, like this one from his math class: "Find the Lebesgue measure of the set of all x in [0,1] where the decimal expansion of x has no consecutive 7s." The answer, it turns out, is zero.

For kicks, though, Nesterenko explained it to a reporter by flipping it around and asking for the length comprised by all numbers between zero and one that do have consecutive sevens. That answer is one.

"Honestly, I don't consider myself any kind of super genius," said Nesterenko, whose grade-point average is 3.5. His dad is a software engineer and his mom a former accountant who worked in real estate until the housing crash.

A certain approach

Like Chen, Nesterenko has a well-developed approach to his life. He specifically seeks out challenges, like triple majoring, and prepares each morning by donning his headphones, glancing at the majestic Campanile on his way to class for inspiration and firing up a recording of "Vershina," the urgent, thrilling Russian anthem in praise of difficult choices.

"This land isn't flat / this climate is bad/ There are avalanches from time to time/ And stones fall from somewhere above/ We can turn and go around/ But what we choose is a difficult route/ Dangerous like a path of war ..."

Being a triple major isn't for everyone, and all three major advisers have to consent, said Monica Bernal, an adviser in the College of Letters & Sciences.

"You have to be able to buckle down and do the upper-division coursework," she said, noting that advisers worry that students won't be able to study abroad, fit in a class from some visiting Nobel laureate or just enjoy school.

Triple-majors merely point to their dazzling resumes, their sweethearts or their hobbies to dispel such myths.

Plays tennis, too

Swupnil Sahai, 21 - who majors in economics, applied mathematics and statistics, while minoring in Chinese studies - plays intramural tennis three times a week, is president of the undergraduate Economics Association and conducts research with a couple of professors. He also spent a summer at the London School of Economics.

Yet, he conceded, "I did have to give up volunteering with 'Do Something,' " a national service organization.

It's exhausting

Joanna Jao, 21, relaxes with yoga. She majors in economics, media studies and psychology while serving as campus representative for ABC Entertainment. She interned with Disney last summer and has accepted a marketing job with Cisco after graduation.

"I'm tired," she said as she emerged from a media midterm recently. She thinks she did well despite getting just three hours of sleep.

"In the past few days I've been hating myself," she admitted. "I just didn't work as hard as I could have."

The toughest part of being a triple major is "making sure you can get all your classes in and still be functional by the end of the week," she said. "If you can get your schedule down, that's half the battle."

In the end, Jao - perhaps like others in that exclusive group of 27 - has a love-hate relationship with her ambitious choice.

"I'd say it definitely helps during the job search," she said. "When people see it on your resume, it already sets you apart.

"But honestly, if I went back, I'm not sure I would have done it. Not having that third major leaves so much more room in your schedule."